Estonia and the rest of the Baltics have had a thriving and enthusiastic electronic scene since the early 90s. We take an in-depth look with Hardi Loog.
Pärnu is located in south western Estonia on the coast, and at the head of beautiful Pärnu Bay. It’s a popular summer vacation resort with plenty of hotels, restaurants, and large beaches. It’s also where Estonians and holiday-makers from elsewhere go to party…
According to Hardi Loog, general manager of RL Concerts OY & RL Entertainment Baltic, Estonia and the rest of the Baltics have had a thriving and enthusiastic electronic scene since the early 90s. Over the years the scene has grown and now includes many different sub-genres.
“The Baltic region is special in that it embraced electronic music very early on, much more so than Scandinavia to the south. There have been raves and electronic events in the Baltic States that sold up to 15.000 tickets, and at the same time in Scandinavia they couldn’t sell more then 1000 tickets for the same sort of event and line-up.”
So who are the most active and inspired party organisers? “That honour has to go to Sunset, but it’s not an easy one to answer in a way, because here have been quite a few promoters over the years who have done some great shows in Estonia at a very early stage in the development of the scene. But I would say that any promoter who takes the risk of developing the house scene in this market are the ones who deserve the most credit,” says Loog. “And in terms of the best clubs in Pärnu, my favourites are Sugar, Factory, and Studio. And in terms of local acts that deserve some props, Cartoon seems to be getting popular right now, and acts like Syn Cole and Henri Krinkle are already stars on a global level. Then there are some local acts that are not so well known but have an interesting, original sound such as Planeet.“
In terms of which large outdoor events to go to, the choice is simple: “There is only one and that is Weekend Festival which drew 90.000 attendees in the first year and had a line-up that included Hardwell, Martin Garrix, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Robin Schulz, Felix Jaehn, Example, Tungevaag & Raaban and many more,” Loog adds.
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